Open Chair

Overview

Open Chair is a global design competition by CREATHLON Competitions, inviting architects, designers, makers, and digital creatives to rethink how furniture is designed, made, and shared.

This is more than a call for well-designed objects — it’s a call for clarity, for ingenuity, for systems that can be built, understood, and reproduced by anyone. Whether you're a student, a professional, or simply curious about design and fabrication, this is your invitation to engage with a new way of making.

Design something real. Something buildable. Something that doesn’t just exist as an idea, but can be printed, assembled, and used.

Let your work explore precision, simplicity, and the logic of making — and contribute to a growing movement of open, accessible design.

The Challenge

As tools of fabrication become more accessible, the boundaries of design are shifting. The ability to produce objects is no longer confined to industry — it now exists in homes, studios, and workshops around the world.

Open Chair challenges you to design within this new reality.

A chair is not just an object.
It is structure, proportion, balance, and use.
It must support weight, define posture, and exist comfortably in space.

Your task is to design a chair that can be 3D printed at home, using a standard desktop printer.

The design must be broken down into printable parts, each fitting within typical printer dimensions, and assembled with minimal tools or additional components.

We encourage:

Clarity over complexity

Logic over excess

Precision over decoration

Focus on how your design is made.
How parts connect.
How the object comes together.

This is not a speculative object or a digital sculpture.
It is a real chair, designed to be downloaded, printed, assembled, and used.

Additional Considerations

Participants are encouraged to consider the relationship between materiality, fabrication strategy, and design intent throughout the development of their proposal. Where relevant, entries may explore specific materials, print parameters, computational optimisation, parametric design methods, or digital simulations to inform the performance, efficiency, or expression of the chair. While such investigations are not required, participants are encouraged to clearly communicate any material specifications, fabrication strategies, or optimisation methods that are essential to the successful realisation of their design.

What to Submit

3D Print Files (2 items, .STL)

One file showing the fully assembled chair.

One file containing all individual printable parts, each sized to fit within a standard home FDM printer bed (max ~ W220 × L220 mm x H250mm ).

Parts must be numbered and organised, coordinated with the assembly instructions shown on the A2 Board.

A2 Board (Landscape, JPG)

A single presentation board including:

Clear visualisations of the chair (renders, diagrams, exploded views, or sketches).

A clear assembly guide showing how the parts connect, similar to furniture assembly guides.

Project title only (no personal names or logos).

Where relevant, information regarding material selection, print settings, fabrication strategy, structural considerations, or computational optimisation methods used to develop the design.

Project Description (PDF, max 500 words)

A written explanation covering:

The design idea and intent

How the parts are printed and assembled

How the chair achieves stability and usability

How it embodies the open-source spirit

A2 Poster (Portrait, JPG)

A single striking image with the project title

No text, diagrams, or annotations

All submission files combined must not exceed 15MB total.

Judging Criteria

Submissions for Open Chair will be evaluated on the quality of the design proposal and the intelligence of its fabrication strategy. Equal importance will be given to architectural and product design thinking, as well as to the practicality, logic, and reproducibility of the proposed system. All entries will be assessed equally, regardless of style or aesthetic approach.

Printability & Fabrication Strategy

Does the design respond realistically to the constraints of home 3D printing?

Are fabrication parameters, part dimensions, print orientation, and material considerations thoughtfully addressed?

Does the proposal demonstrate an intelligent and well-resolved strategy for fabrication and production?

Assembly & Construction Logic

Is the chair broken down into components in a logical and efficient manner?

Does the design demonstrate a clear, elegant, or innovative assembly strategy?

Are joints, connections, tolerances, and construction methods thoughtfully considered?

Is the assembly process communicated effectively through the submission materials?

Functionality & Structural Intent

Does the chair demonstrate a believable structural strategy?

Can the assembled object realistically stand independently and maintain its intended form?

Does the proposal successfully balance practical constraints with design ambition?

Design Quality & Expression

Is there a strong and well-resolved design concept?

Does the chair demonstrate thoughtful consideration of form, proportion, materiality, and user experience?

Does the proposal present a compelling object that people would genuinely want to build and use?

Accessibility & Reproducibility

Can the design be reasonably reproduced using widely accessible tools and fabrication methods?

Does the proposal embrace the principles of open and shareable design?

Could someone reasonably download, understand, fabricate, and assemble the chair as intended?

Join the Movement

This competition is not just about designing a chair — it is about rethinking how design is created and shared.

A future where objects are not only consumed, but built.
Where ideas are not closed, but accessible.
Where making becomes part of everyday life again.

Entry is open.
The brief is clear.
The tools are already in your hands.

Register now and design your Open Chair.

Registration Fees

Early Bird

£5 Single / £10 Team

Regular

£15 Single / £25 Team

Late

£25 Single / £35 Team

Competition Brought In Partnership With Aibuild

Our Competition Partner Aibuild has made available the following resources to test as part of the competition. Check them out at the links below!

Aibuild OS With Free Credits

Sketch To 3D Print Using Aibuild OS Tasks

Sketch To 3D Using Aibuild OS Processes

Disclaimer:

Your 3D submissions may be shared as part of the open-design showcase, where 3D files will be made available for free download, with Non-Commercial use license, and author attribution. Please check the competition Terms & Conditions!